GBMINI#3

A relatively minor irritation with both GBMINI#2 & #3 at various times of year:
The car is reluctant to start first thing in the morning when the engine is cold – nothing to do with the weather.
GBMINI#2 used to sometimes stall and require a second start; curiously the second start was always quick and perfectly reliable!
GBMINI#3 is improved – it just runs rough for a few seconds after taking a little longer than expected to start.

The issue has been attributed to gas formulation changes (the problem normally appears suddenly either in the spring or fall), but of course the ultimate cause is something wrong with the engine programming – even if there was something wrong with the gas, it should take the engine computer only a couple of cylinder firings to notice and take corrective action, yet GBMINI#2 occasionally would struggle for a few seconds before finally stalling!

I have read before to try a lower octane gas (lower octane is more likely to ignite so there is some logic to this). So last month I filled with Sunoco 91 instead of Sunoco 93 – the effect was instant & dramatic; next morning the car started immediately and ran smoothly. This continued through the use of the tank, and a second tank of Sunoco 91 also let the engine run well.

For a proper “scientific” test, I then switched back to Sunoco 93; after a short stop 10 minutes later it was already noticeable that the car did not re-start quite as easily, and next morning the normal cold start problem returned.

So now I am back with Sunoco 91, and the car is starting fine each morning. I have not noticed any significant difference in MPG, or available power – in fact if anything the car felt less smooth with the 93.

It will be interesting to see if the cold start issue is banished forever, or if it returns eventually …

PS: GBMINI#3 maintains a calculated MPG between 25 & 30, the higher averages being the result of longer runs – just about the same as GBMINI#2 after the JCW upgrade.